1. Field
The technology of the present application relates generally to devices to inhibit a surgical patient's bite during surgical operations and, more particularly, to a resilient bite block for placement in a mouth with at least one electrode access bore to facilitate placing an electrode in the tongue of a patient for intraoperative monitoring (IOM) during the surgical operations.
2. Background
The tongue is a muscle that has its movement stimulated by nerves such as, for example, the XIIth Cranial Nerve hypoglossal nerve. The movement of the tongue is useful in swallowing and making sounds associated with speech among other things. Thus, damage to the nerves associated with the control of the tongue is potentially severe as it may inhibit a person's ability to eat and speak. Moreover, bite block inhibits the ability of the person to bite the tongue and inhibits potential tooth and/or jaw damage associated with severe clamping of the jaws after transcranial electrical stimulation for motor evoked potentials. To monitor for potential damage to the nerves associated with the tongue's muscle control, a bipolar or monopolar recording electrode is placed about the tongue. The tongue is activated when the XIIth CN is mechanically or electrically stimulated during the surgical intervention. The recording electrodes in the tongue are used to record the electromyelographic response of the activated muscles in the tongue.
As can be appreciated, the electrodes are placed by a trained technician locating the electrodes on the tongue. To do this, the technician opens the mouth of a patient and places an electrode. For example, the technician may advance a needle electrode into the tongue until the electrode is proximate the muscle the electrode will record. The mouth is often propped open using an object in the mouth generally known as a bite block. The bite block is positioned between the teeth of a patient to inhibit the mouth from closing. Wires from the electrode are connected to an amplifier as is common in the art.
The bite block often if formed of a hard plastic material. The hard plastic material may in some instances cause injury to the teeth of the patient, such as, for example, a chipped or cracked tooth. Also, the bite block occupies a portion of the patient's mouth and can make placement of the recording electrode difficult. Moreover, the bite block takes up a significant volume in the patient's mouth that may hinder placement of the needle electrode in certain cases.
Thus, against this background, it would be desirous to provide an improved bite block that would be less likely to injury the teeth of the patient as well as facilitate rather than hinder placement of the recording electrode.